SuperBowl XIII

Chunky Monkeys vs Battle Angel, 93.3 - 79.7
A championship match up defined by peaks and valleys.  There really is no other way to describe what we saw this past weekend in the thirteenth CTDB super bowl with a match up between long time Mt. Carmel friends, Vu's Battle Angels and Evan's Chunky Monkeys.

Similar to their last win, the Monkeys seemingly had etched out a smoothly paved win to their third title. The Dirty Birds found a way to beat the Jammers, who at the time, was one of the hottest teams in the league.  However, the victory came at a high price and the Birds found themselves severely handicapped with Adrian Peterson and Rob Gronkowski out. The number one ranked Monkeys found themselves matched up against a very undermanned Dirty Birds.  As expected, the Monkeys cruised to an easy victory mostly on the back of your 2013 fantasy MVP, Jamaal Charles.

The same could be said for the Super Bowl.  The Jubas were the number one team on the SMG division but somehow found  themselves on the losing end against the Angels. This left the Angels matched up against the goliath Monkeys. Adding insult to injury, Angel's quarterback, Drew Brees had a really tough road match up against Carolina (who the Angels also had on their roster) and the Angels had to scramble to find viable starters for BenJarvus Green Ellis and Brian Hartline -- both were barely startable.

Then came the extreme makeover. Battle Angels tabbed free agent running back Dennis Johnson as his flex player; Johnson was named the Texans starter just three days before the match up. Then Angels promoted Greg Jennings over Hartline, and followed that up by signing Andy Dalton and the Rams defense off the street. The insertion of Johnson and Jennings was just the beginning. Coach Vu then showed the hairiest set of cojones you'll see this side of Mississippi. Despite Brees and Carolina being the second best QB and DEF all year, coach Vu decided to bench both in favor of the Red Rocket, Andy Dalton, and Rams defense. This meant half of the starting roster was new, just in time for the big game.

The last two calls were brilliant. Commissioner Jon called the moves "genius." Dalton went on to throw for 366 yards and 4 TDs, good for 43 points. On the bench, Brees was pedestrian with only 17 points. This is the single best Super Bowl pick up ever. The Rams put up seven sacks and two fumbles good for another 15 points.

Then the Angels peaked. Dalton and the Rams were nearly 75% of the Angels production. No other player scored over 9 points. Despite this mediocrity, the Angels had a strong chance going into Monday Night Football -- coincidentally the last game ever at Candlestick Park -- needing less than 14 points from Vernon Davis.  The same VD who was the third best TE all year. Instead, Coach Vu got a big fat zero from Vernon. Three targets, no catches. Unbelievable.

And that's how it ended for the Angels; needing 14 to win, the Angels got the the bagel.  43 points from the free agent quarterback and zero points from the veteran starting tight end who's been on the Angels keeper list the past two years.

On the flip side, it was another successful rebuilding year for the Monkeys.  After failing to make the playoffs for the first time in team history in 2011, the Monkeys made it to the division championships in 2012 and found themselves in a familiar position this year with a shot at the ring.

The highest scoring team this year averaged nearly 120 points per week and was led by Jamaal Charles, far and away the best non-QB this year.  However, we shouldn't forget that the Monkeys also had the #1 and #2 receivers with Megatron and Josh Gordon (who the Monkeys signed off the street in WK2 after the Angels cut him!). Charles finished the fantasy season with 1,287 rushing yards, 693 receiving yards and 19 combined touchdowns.  That is LT-esque if you ask me.  Through the air, Megatron and Gordon combined for 164 catches for 3,056 yards and and 21 touchdowns.   No other combination was close.

The team overcame season ending injuries to Julio Jones and Randall Cobb, Shane Vereen was basically was on IR all year, and Trent Richardson basically should've been injured.  The rest of the team was supported by quarterback Russell Wilson -- who performed more than admirably -- and a rotating cast of receivers ranging from Torrey Smith, to Harry Douglas, to Michael Floyd. All of them got a couple starts and while none were able to show sustained success, it was more than enough.  In the flex, we saw the emergence of Shane Vereen and Giovani Bernard.  Pundits suspect we'll see one of the two on the keeper list next year.  It's important to note the success of the Monkey's 2013 supplemental draft. Bernard, Vereen and Smith were the first draft picks.  All of them stayed with the team the entire year and all three contributed significantly all year.

Looking ahead, the future is bright for the Monkeys.  The Monkeys survived without three keepers in Julio Jones, Randall Cobb and Trent Richardson.  If things go as expected, a receiver core with Megatron, Julio and newly found superstud Josh Gordon will form the strongest receiving core the Monkeys have featured yet.  Jamaal Charles will likely be the #1 overall pick in drafts next year and the flex we suspect will go to a young rising star in Gio Bernard.  If all goes well, this may be the best keeper roster we've seen from the Monkeys -- even better than the 2007 roster which included Peyton, LT, Larry Johnson and Terrell Owens.

The Monkeys will earn their third ring -- second in four years -- which ties them with Buffy.  This certainly re-establishes the Monkey as the team to beat in CTDB.  All hail the Monkeys!!